Daz3D sells 3D software, 3D models, and some 2D art backgrounds and brushes.

Ok, so what makes them so special?

Well, for one thing, they got me hooked and spending about $100US every month for the past year. They also have great Google rankings (PR 6).

In general, I am not a big spender and I tend to deliberate a lot before buying anything. Aside from necessities such as groceries, and utilities, I don't buy much of anything else. The two biggest classes of purchases that I make are dog products, and Daz3D products. Dog products I get from vendors who have good prices on Amazon, but all my art and web design products I get from Daz3D.

How did they get me so hooked?

I have looked through a variety of places that sell 3D-models, and Daz3D has the best quality products for very reasonable prices. Their models are easy of install, and they have a simple user interface on their site to browse for products. They also keep track of all my purchases, and alert me when I try to buy something twice.

In short, they make everything easy and fun.

Browsing for products on their site is not some painful process where I have to read countless boring reviews, and plod through a complex log-in, and sign-up process. Instead, looking at Daz products is fun, and whenever I have a free 5-10 minutes, I find myself clicking on that Daz bookmark. I enjoy my visits to the Daz website, and I truly enjoy what I can create with their products.

Below are some WordPress blog themes that I created recently for my website, using Daz3D models -

And I don't mean in a gooey, bad way, but rather in a keeps me coming back, sticky, good way.

In fact, I visit Daz3D several times every day. Why?

Because they have special FastGrab deals that only last for a certain number of units, and only for a certain amount of time. Most of the time, I am not interested in the FastGrab products, but sometimes they have something that I truly want at a very good discount price. For this reason, I keep going back and checking at least several times a day.

This creates really good traffic for them, which gets them great rankings on Google (PR-6 on their homepage and PR-5 on their FastGrab page).

Because I keep dropping by, I frequently end up buying FastGrab products that I may not really need, but that look somewhat interesting. After all, the products are only available for a fixed amount of time, and I am competing with others to get it at discount prices, so I want to get in on the deal before someone beats me to it.

Discount time-limits, and creating competition with other buyers are both well-understood and powerful ways to compel people to buy your products, and the Daz team uses these marketing tools extremely well.

There is always something going on at Daz. Sometimes it is an awesome new model that they are planning to release, other times it is some really blow-out discount deal.

In addition to FastGrab (which changes every few hours), they also have new products, new product promotions, and new free products on their home site. These change every few days or weeks, but it keeps me going to their homepage at least once a day.

New content, special events, and good discounts, will keep people interested, and visiting your website again and again.

Daz has a great Platinum Club deal that rewards its members with special discounts on all products, special contests, and special Platinum Club products. In addition, Platinum members get a $5 US gift certificate, every month.

This ensures that I visit them at least once every month to spend my $5 certificate.

In addition to all that, there is a special Platinum Club area, where members can vote on special contests, and have access to some free Platinum Club only models.

Generally, I hate signing up for membership deals because I end up not really using them. However, in this case, I am very happy to be a member, because I get so many good rewards.

In fact, as I write this article (October '09), Daz is having a month long Platinum Club event, where members get more discounts for the entire month, special free models throughout the month, and special gift certificates for making product purchases during the event.

The Daz Team really know how to make a compelling case to not only get people to join, but also get members to stay active. This creates a loyal following, that will not only continue to give them money, but also market their brand and products for free; like what I am doing right now!

Daz also has a great community experience.

They have team members interacting with community members very frequently, and there are many threads where community members suggest the type of content that they would like to see. Based on this feedback, Daz produces the types of products that community members are asking for.

Community members can also participate in several monthly contests,where winners get $25 US gift certificates for generating compelling artistic pieces with Daz3D products. It is similar to the HubNuggets event on HubPages, except at Daz, the winners are chosen by the community, and there is a monetary reward associated with the fame and glory of winning.

All of these marketing strategies are not new, but I think Daz3D is a great case study because they implement these elements really well, especially for an online product.

When you have a large and ever growing community, that goes out and sing your praises for free, you know you really have something good going. This is what web successes are made of.

If you are starting out with web marketing, and want an example of how to market your website or products well, then check out the folks at Daz3D.

They certainly have me hooked, and lots of other people as well.